Rosewood: A Little Doctor-on-Doctor Action, Not!
I’m really annoyed right now. I’ve been watching the show, Rosewood, and all was well until a recent episode in which the main character’s cardiologist made a pass at him. But let me backtrack a bit before I get to my problem with the show.
Rosewood is about a medical pathologist who’s brash, cocky and reluctant to take “No” for an answer. Played with panache by Morris Chestnut, the character is also someone who’s been struggling with severe heart disease which, until recently, he was treating on his own- an unwise decision at the best of times.
I liked this show because it’s one of the rare Network programs that celebrates diversity in all its forms. It was refreshing to watch a show that was deliberate in its positive messaging. And that’s why it was disappointing when the show went off the tracks with a recent story-line.
Rosewood got himself a new cardiologist- a very beautiful woman played by the actor, Joy Bryant, and there I was, thinking that now Rosewood’s health might stabilize and he’d be less of a worry to his doting Mom, charmingly played by Lorraine Toussaint.
But no, this wasn’t the case. The same writers who’ve been so great at filling the plot lines with messages about inclusion, friendship, loyalty and loving-kindness somehow found it in themselves to write a script in which the good Doctor Erica Kincaid comes to see Rosewood one evening and makes a pass at him. When he expresses concern about her having a conflict of interest, she confidently reassures him that she can be both his doctor and his lover, and they end up spending the night making-out.
As a physician myself, and like every physician who’s bound by the Hippocratic oath which tells me to always make my patient’s needs my priority and to “first, do no harm,” I was appalled to see this cardiologist represented on-screen as someone who was clearly putting her own agenda ahead of the welfare of her patient.
Yes, I know it’s TV, but in a show that’s fairly heavy-handed with its messaging, we can’t only pay attention to some of the messages being offered and ignore the rest. The scene in which Dr. Kincaid makes a pass at her patient is giving the message that this is perfectly acceptable behavior- which it is not- and it can mislead the viewers into thinking that doctors don’t take their professional responsibilities seriously and will gladly blur the boundaries of their personal and professional relationships.
I’m frustrated that Rosewood the physician didn’t rebuff the overture by his doctor and let her know that he didn’t appreciate her turning their professional relationship into a personal one. Rosewood has been in desperate need of a cardiologist and instead of being there for him, she put her selfish needs ahead of what was good for her patient. This is wrong on so many levels.
One of the reasons that doctors aren’t supposed to have sex with their patients is that the doctor-patient relationship involves a power differential in which the physician is in the one-up position and the patient is in the more vulnerable role. Ethically, it’s not right to take advantage of someone in a more vulnerable position. That’s also why teachers aren’t permitted to sleep with students, even in University; bosses aren’t supposed to sleep with employees and coaches aren’t supposed to sleep with their athletes.
When Dr. Kincaid made a pass at her patient, she broke the rules that doctors are supposed to follow and engaged in unethical behavior; something she could lose her license for if she were a real-life physician. I’m aggravated that such an offense should be treated so cavalierly by the writers and producers of the show.
In my world, doctors are punished severely for this type of behavior; on television- at least on this show- not so much. It’s sad that on a show which obviously prides itself on being on the right side of the moral compass, the writers could be that far off, when it comes to physician-patient interactions. The fact that Rosewood is a doctor himself is irrelevant in this case, because in the relationship he entered into with Dr. Kincaid, he was a patient first, and someone who needed her medical expertise, not a man in search of a girlfriend.
And by the way, for those who aren’t clear about it, it’s absolutely impossible for a doctor to be objective when treating a loved one. In Toronto, where I practice, there are rules about treating family members. It’s also not appropriate to treat one’s romantic partner. Dr. Kincaid would not be able to be objective in her role as a physician if she were in a romantic relationship with Rosewood. The writers might have her telling herself, and him, that this is possible, but it’s not.
Can we please have our TV doctors acting a bit more like real doctors? If Rosewood is portrayed as a competent pathologist at the top of his game on the TV show, and Dr. Kincaid is shown performing the tasks of an actual cardiologist, can the writers of this show please have them behaving on all levels like the mature, responsible professionals they’re supposed to be? Is that really too much to ask?
